European Exploration and Colonization

Trade and the desire for new routes became the key motivation for Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain to begin exploration. What they, of course, did not realize was that instead of finding a faster way to Asia, they began the quest for colonization of a new world.

8000 B.C. Mexican Indians spread culture northward
600 B.C. the Adenans, the first Indian group to build a settlement in what is currently Phoenix, Arizona
First Century A.D. The Hohokum Indians settle in Arizona
1000 A.D. Leif Ericson discovers Newfoundland
1215 The Magna Carta is adopted
1492 Columbus discovers the New World
1497 John Cabot explores Canada
1499 Amerigo Vespucci sights the coast of South America
1507 The term America is used
1513 Ponce de Leon lands in Florida
1517 Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation
1519 Hernando Cortes defreats the Aztec Empire
1519-1522 Fernando magellan sails around the world
1524 Giovannni da Verrazano discovers the Hudson River
1541 Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River
1565 Sain Augustine, Florida, founded by the Spanish
1587 Sir Walter Raleigh lands on Roanoke Island
1588 England defreats the Spanish Armada
1607 Jamestown founded Virgina
1609 Henry Hudson explores North America
1619 The Virginia House of Burgesses meets in Jamestown
1619 Twenty Africans are brought to Jamestown for sale, marking the beginning of slavery
1620 The Mayflower lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts
1620 The Mayflower Compact is signed

http://books.google.com/books?id=Gr0OO11dajwC&pg=PA21&dq=European+Exploration+and+Colonization&hl=en&ei=bwlsTfOALM25tgfgzMTmAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=European%20Exploration%20and%20Colonization&f=false300px-Colonization_of_the_Americas_1750.png